Autonomous shipping is revolutionising the maritime industry. While scholarship has begun to explore the legal obstacles to the global operation of autonomous vessels under the existing legal framework, little attention has been paid to theoretical problems posed by law enforcement against those vessels under that framework. This article offers an account of law enforcement challenges posed by different categories of maritime autonomous surface ships as segmented by the key State actors’ enforcement powers (i.e. coastal and flag States) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The study concludes that a reconceptualisation of law enforcement vis-à-vis autonomous ships is required, reexamining the presumption of physicality. The article suggests that it is necessary to reevaluate the suitability of the ‘genuine link’ doctrine, shifting towards a shore-based Remote Operations Centre rule or devising international agreements that envisage dynamic or fluid enforcement mechanisms. This would necessitate a transition from the traditional view of jurisdiction based on person/object/flag of registration to a model of enforcement based on convenience.

The debate over whether, when, and by whom reparations should be paid for climate-related loss and damage has been central to the struggle over the role of international law in responding to climate change. The push for climate reparations is an attempt to have international law treat the harm caused by climate change with the same gravity as issues such as the damage caused by war, gross violations of human rights, or injury to the economic interests of foreign investors. At stake in that struggle is a broader question that goes to the heart of the global political economy: who should bear the social costs of industrialization and technological development on a global scale?

On 21 May 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) delivered its Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and International Law (Advisory Opinion) regarding the obligations of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in respect of climate change. ITLOS made several methodological choices to answer the request for the Advisory Opinion, but none were more decisive than its extensive use of external rules and scientific materials to interpret both the questions presented and the relevant UNCLOS provisions. This article provides an account of the ways in which ITLOS engaged with legal and scientific external resources throughout its decision. The final section discusses some concerns raised by this interpretative approach, including unresolved questions related to the criteria for using external rules under the principle of systemic integration, and the justification for the role that scientific information plays in shaping the content of certain UNCLOS obligations as applied to climate change. These issues are important given the influence that the Advisory Opinion will have on future debates and negotiations, and because they are ultimately linked to the need for a sound theoretical foundation for using legal and non-legal external materials in treaty interpretation.

The Hanna Neumann conjecture (HNC) for a free group G predicts that $\overline{\chi}(U\cap V)\leqslant \overline{\chi} (U)\overline{\chi}(V)$ for all finitely generated subgroups U and V, where $\overline{\chi}(H) = \max\{-\chi(H),0\}$ denotes the reduced Euler characteristic of H. A strengthened version of the HNC was proved independently by Friedman and Mineyev in 2011. Recently, Antolín and Jaikin-Zapirain introduced the $L^2$-Hall property and showed that if G is a hyperbolic limit group that satisfies this property, then G satisfies the HNC. Antolín and Jaikin-Zapirain established the $L^2$-Hall property for free and surface groups, which Brown and Kharlampovich extended to all limit groups. In this paper, we prove the $L^2$-Hall property for graphs of free groups with cyclic edge groups that are hyperbolic relative to virtually abelian subgroups. We also give another proof of the $L^2$-Hall property for limit groups. As a corollary, we show that all these groups satisfy a strengthened version of the HNC.

Possession of a chattel is sufficient to create a title to it. This article considers the nature and justification of these titles. It argues that popular justifications of possessory title fall short and offers a more appealing justification. The article then seeks to resolve, in light of that justification, three ongoing doctrinal controversies about a possessory title’s nature: whether it continues to exist after possession of the chattel is lost; whether it is transferable; and whether it includes a right that others not interfere with a possessor’s use of the chattel.

This article contends that anthropogenic sea-level rise seriously undermines the exercise of self-determination by peoples living in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Moreover, it argues that the effects of this would be severely exacerbated if the international community were to reject the possibility of statehood enduring notwithstanding total submergence, the complete loss of inhabitable land or the mass exodus of extant populations. In support of the claims made by several SIDS themselves, this article provides an analysis focused upon the relationship between the law of State continuity, on the one hand, and the peremptory norm of self-determination on the other. Ultimately, this analysis advances an understanding of State continuity and sea-level rise that favours existential resilience, making any future losses of statehood contingent upon voluntary dissolution by affected States.

This article argues that the concept of dualism has ceased to operate as a reliable indicator of, or guide to, the relationships between domestic and international laws in the UK’s constitutional order. Dualism, it is argued, provides only a partial account of the complex interactions between domestic and international laws, cannot accommodate the hybrid products of interactions with European legal orders and ignores the post-“incorporation” processes of domestication through which international and domestic norms are reconciled. The connections between domestic and international laws are – in contrast to dualism’s binary simplicity – multi-dimensional and interconnected with the UK’s (recently turbulent) constitutional politics.

In Tuscany, music is employed by park authorities, as well as cultural and conservation organisations, to attract visitors to natural and protected areas. This article examines the benefits of incorporating music performances within these natural settings, highlighting improvements in management, income generation for maintenance and conservation, increased visitor numbers, and enhanced environmental awareness. Through qualitative interviews and the analysis of four case studies, this article explores how integrating musical performances into ecotourism activities can foster a sense of place and stewardship among visitors and local communities.

Maritime security challenges are intensifying globally, from armed attacks on shipping in the Red Sea to critical infrastructure sabotage and environmental threats from shadow fleets. These developments have led some to question whether the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) remains ‘fit for purpose’. This article reframes that debate, suggesting that maritime security operates through a complex assemblage of institutions and mechanisms. In this context, UNCLOS is best understood not as a monolithic ‘constitution’, but as one important site in a more complex and dynamic system of maritime security governance. It examines how the United Nations (UN) system, regional organisations and informal arrangements collectively address maritime security challenges, revealing both the strengths and limitations of this diverse governance landscape. The analysis shows that while this complexity enables flexible responses to varied challenges, it also creates coordination problems and accountability gaps. Rather than calling for a revision of UNCLOS, the article proposes three pathways for recalibrating the system: establishing a dedicated UN maritime security body; addressing interface conflicts through targeted interventions; and selectively formalising successful informal mechanisms.

Cyprian of Carthage’s On the Lapsed, written in the aftermath of the third-century Decian persecution, contains several stories of the eucharist attacking apostate Christians. These Christians claimed they had been admitted to the eucharist by local, highly esteemed martyrs and confessors. Cyprian, who had fled during the persecution and been unpopular since the day of his election, could not afford to confront this group directly. Instead, he crafted a text that conjured up an autonomous eucharist that policed itself against unworthy intruders. Moreover, he used the graphic language of bodily suffering and dismemberment to scramble the boundaries between lapsed Christian, bishop, and martyr, essentially reconfiguring himself as a martyr.

The shuhūr sanah, also called the Shuhur era, was a solar calendar used in Deccan India in the pre-modern and early modern periods. Scholars have long assumed that the calendar was instituted in the early fourteenth century, sometime in 1344–1345 CE, although, to date, no primary evidence from the fourteenth century has been examined to substantiate this inaugural date or explain the circumstances that led to the genesis of the calendar. In the present article, I discuss a 1333–1334 CE Persian epigraph from Daulatabad that uses the phrase shuhūr sanah and argue that the calendar was instituted during a period of economic, administrative, and agricultural uncertainty in the reign of the Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq (r. 1325–1351). In so doing, I re-date the inauguration of the calendar to a decade prior to what has been assumed thus far and posit a new theory about the calendar’s longevity in the Deccan. More broadly, I examine the historiography and the historical usage of the Shuhur era in the Persianate epigraphic corpus. The survey reveals how the Shuhur era was used to make public-facing pronouncements and also clarifies the limits of the calendar’s usage. The calendar was popular in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; after this period, it was phased out by other calendrical systems preferred by the Mughal (1526–1857) and the Maratha (1674–1818) empires, who came to control the Deccan.

Whether the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is being praised or criticized, the focus often is on the perceptions of it in African countries rather than how it is conceptualized in those countries and by continental entities such as the African Union (AU). As a result, there is no understanding of the collective African conceptualization of the BRI and how that conceptualization shapes the continent’s engagement with China and, in turn, the perceptions of the BRI. By employing the intentionality, instrumentalist, and geopolitical approaches, this study analyzes Africa’s conceptualization of the BRI as a global project through the lens of strategic utility, intentionality, and geopolitical positioning, which can be summarized as “strategic globalism.”

Due regard obligations require both States and non-State actors to reasonably consider the rights or interests of other States or non-State actors when exercising their own rights and performing their duties. This article examines how due regard obligations should be interpreted in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) in light of the adoption of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement). As human activities in ABNJ increase, due regard obligations become crucial for balancing the competing rights and interests of States, non-State actors and relevant institutions, frameworks and bodies (IFBs). The literature and case law have mainly addressed conflicts between coastal and flag States concerning the application of due regard obligations within national jurisdictions. Different dynamics arise in ABNJ from potentially conflicting activities and disagreements between States with the same rights or interests, or those between States, non-State actors and IFBs. This article addresses this gap by analysing the new dynamics of due regard that are expected to arise concerning marine genetic resources and area-based management tools with the implementation of the BBNJ Agreement.

Armed conflicts often spill over from the land to the sea, rendering the law of naval warfare key for governing such conflicts. Against this background, the United States Naval War College developed the Newport Manual on the Law of Naval Warfare (Newport Manual) in 2023, which attempted to codify the existing rules of customary international law. However, this manual differs from the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts (San Remo Manual), adopted in 1994, particularly regarding the rights of neutral coastal States over their exclusive economic zones (EEZs). While the San Remo Manual requires belligerents to have due regard for such rights, the Newport Manual assumes that such due regard is not required under customary international law. These divergences are derived from different understandings of the relationship between the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the law of naval warfare. This article analyses this by examining the two manuals as well as the domestic military manuals of maritime powers. It concludes that due regard should be paid to neutral States’ EEZ rights, but the standard of due regard during an armed conflict differs from that applicable during peacetime.